Social game developer Zynga has begun sales of the $42 "Unwither Ring," a FarmVille item that permanently prevents its owner's crops from dying.

Announced earlier this week via the FarmVille forums, the ring will be available thru Sunday for the price of 250 dollars of "Farm Cash" (roughly $41.67). Interestingly, players are unable to purchase the ring for themselves; instead, they may only give it as a gift to one of their FarmVille neighbors. The ring is over four times as expensive as the next most costly item in Zynga's Facebook game, "Upgrade Farm," which increases your arable land to "Mighty Plantation" size at the cost of $10 and your dignity.

The "Unwither Ring" isn't the only way to prevent your crops from dying; you may also purchase individual doses of "Unwither" at 30 dollars of "Farm Cash" per three uses (about $1.67 per use) to revive dead crops. The ring, however, is the only way to permanently protect your crops from rotting while they wait to be harvested.

Personally, I'm sold on the idea. Is there a better way to say "I love you" than with an overpriced cheat code to make an already brain-dead simple game even easier?

I dunno what makes my head hurt worse; the item's existence or the knowledge that thousands of people will probably buy one for their friends in the hopes that they'll get one in return. Wait, I do - definitely the latter.

For that price, you could buy a game that's actually fun. Zynga must be full of evil geniuses, enacting their master plan to slowly rob the world of its intelligence (and get rich in the process.)

Crimsane:I dunno what makes my head hurt worse; the item's existence or the knowledge that thousands of people will probably buy one for their friends in the hopes that they'll get one in return. Wait, I do - definitely the latter.

For that price, you could buy a game that's actually fun. Zynga must be full of evil geniuses, enacting their master plan to slowly rob the world of its intelligence (and get rich in the process.)

Suddenly $40 seems much more valuable and you could not put it in better terms. Who ever buys this ring instead of a real game is insane.

What a genius game. I played it for a while, never stopped me going to parties or socialising. But many people on this site hate farmville because it is popular but strangely love crappy MMOs like warcraft even though they are popular.

Sulu:What a genius game. I played it for a while, never stopped me going to parties or socialising. But many people on this site hate farmville because it is popular but strangely love crappy MMOs like warcraft even though they are popular.

That's how it seems to be on the Escapist. Take the radio for example. Tons of people here hate pop music, but it's pop music for a reason, because it's popular. Same applies to those reality shows. Someone has to like that shit for it to still be around. But I digress...

thenumberthirteen:Ignoring the price, and idiocy of this. It is a ring of eternal life. Plant life, but still. I get a LOTR vibe from this. It is dark magic.

No mortal man was meant to posses this ring. There will be many given as gifts in the coming days, and with each one further into shadow shall our world pass. This ring shall cover all the lands in darkness!

thenumberthirteen:Ignoring the price, and idiocy of this. It is a ring of eternal life. Plant life, but still. I get a LOTR vibe from this. It is dark magic.

No mortal man was meant to posses this ring. There will be many given as gifts in the coming days, and with each one further into shadow shall our world pass. This ring shall cover all the lands in darkness!

Sulu:What a genius game. I played it for a while, never stopped me going to parties or socialising. But many people on this site hate farmville because it is popular but strangely love crappy MMOs like warcraft even though they are popular.

I'm pretty sure they hate Farmville because it's absolutely terrible and shouldn't even be called a game, not because it's popular. WoW is undeniably a game, at least.